Rates of Disability by Gender – Disability in America Series

The maps and charts below explore the American Community Survey 5-year data (Table S1810) on disability estimates by county type (OMB county classifications). The ACS asks a set of disability indicator questions to determine disability. If a respondent can answer “yes” to any disability question they are classified as having a disability. The data below are for all age groups.

Chart 2. Rate of Disability by Gender and County type. Looking at gender we see a trend similar to the overall breakdown. Lower rates of disability for both men and women in metropolitan (11.4% and 12% respectively) counties with higher rates in micropolitan (15.6% and 15.3%) and the highest rates in noncore (18.2% and 17.3%). We see that rates are higher for women in urban counties and higher for men in rural counties.

Chart 3. Gender Rate by County type (of Disability Population). We can examine trends in gender more closely by looking within the disability population at how gender breaks down across county type. The percentage of the disability population that is male is lower in metropolitan counties (47.5%) and higher in micropolitan (49.8%) and noncore counties (50.7%). However, for women the percentage of the disability population is higher in metropolitan (52.5%) and lower in micropolitan (50.2%) and noncore (49.3%). So in general it seems that the urban population of people with disabilities trends towards female whereas the rural population of people with disabilities tends to be more male.